Floods blessing in disguise for Palnadu farmers

GUNTUR: The flooding in the Krishna river has proved to be a boon for the farmers of Palnadu region as after four years, they were able to cultivate paddy with the floodwater.Apart from a few villages which are waterlogged in the mandals of Machavaram, Dachepalli and Bellamkonda, remaining fields are available for farming in which the farmers have started sowing paddy.

The Nagarjuna Sagar dam was filled with 301.90 tmc water and the water level has reached to 586.30 feet out of the full capacity of 590 feet. More than 5,67,280 cusecs of water was discharged from the Srisailam reservoir to Nagarjuna Sagar dam, discharging 4,24,266 lakh cusecs to the downstream. Further, 11,040 cusecs of water was discharged to the Right Canal, the local streams such as Naguleru, Jerri Vagu, Yeddu Vagu, Yerra Vagu and other rivulets overflowing in the Palnadu region. The people of Macherla, Gurajala, Narasaraopet and Vinukonda have also started cultivation in the villages.

There are more than 11.60 lakh acres of farmlands under the Right Canal of Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) on Krishna river in the Guntur and Prakasam districts. The officers of the Agriculture department are expecting the farmers in the region to cultivate paddy crops.

The NSP is getting 75,249 cusecs of inflows from the Srisailam Reservoir. Presently, the reservoir is getting inflows of 4.67 lakh cusecs, so the NSP will receive greater inflows in the upcoming days. The NSP might achieve full capacity if the inflows continue at the same pace for a week.

“I have been cultivating paddy in two acres of land for which we used to draw water through a borewell for the last four years due to the non-availability of water from the Right Canal and faced various problems owing to irregular power supply. Now with plenty of water available, we do not need to use motors to pump water from the borewell,” said Dasari Mallaiah of Tumrukota in Rentachintala mandal.
Other farmers from Macherla, Kothapalli and Koppunuru expressed similar sentiments.